Samsung Chief, Jay Y. Lee, all charges were eliminated in the 2015 fusion case

A Seoul Court of Appeals confirmed on Monday the acquittal of the executive president of Samsung Electronics Jay Y. Read in accounting fraud and manipulation of shares in a case related to a controversial fusion of two members of Samsung, Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T.

The Superior Court of Seoul dismissed the appeal of the Prosecutor’s Office in the case that involved Lee, who faced 19 positions related to unfair trade and manipulation of the price of shares under the Law on Financial Investment Services and the associated capital markets with the controversial fusion of 2015 of the two affiliates. Prosecutors had claimed that the merger was intended to strengthen their control over the largest electronic giant in South Korea. In addition, they said that Samsung’s merger process affected Samsung C&T shareholders.

The failure comes A year after a lower court in South Korea acquitted Lee of irregularities and almost four years and five months After Lee was accused in Sepcess 2020.

In September 2020, Lee, then Vice President of Samsung Electronics, along with other former Samsung executives, was accused of advocating Cheil Industries, Samsung’s textile affiliate, with Samsung C&T, his construction unit, to take charge of the management of the technological giant. Controls in 2015.

All former Samsung executives were also declared innocent of the accusations of a Seoul Appeals Court on Monday.

During the November 2023, Lee denied accusations of misconduct and declared that the merger process followed the company’s standard operational procedures. In November Last year, prosecutors in South Korea requested a five -year prison sentence and a fine of 500 million KRW, approximately $ 375,000, for the electronics leader of Samsung, Jay Y. Lee, in an Appeal Court .

The decision limits almost a decade of legal disputes for Lee, starting with one in 2015 focusing on a fusion that highlighted the problems with corporate governance.

“It is difficult to say that the merger was carried out without the consent of the two companies, since it was decided under the agreement and cooperation of Samsung C&T, Cheil Industries and the Samsung Future Strategy Office,” said the court, refuting the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office that Samsung control controls the Tower Office made the merger decision only.

Prosecutors said they will review the decision of the Superior Court before deciding whether to appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court, in accordance with A Yonhap media.